My first post in this series focused on the importance of understanding the ambitions of HRM software/services vendors and the implications of those ambitions for buyers/investors/employees/the industry. Next came a post focused on the different strategies of these same vendors, the many moving parts that must be addressed in those strategies, and the implications of the differences in strategy for buyers/investors/employees/the industry. Now for the fun part, at least for me – their software!

I’d love to do an individual post on the good, the bad and the ugly of each relevant vendor’s software assets, but for that you’d have to pay me (as clients do) serious money. I’d have to do a ton more detailed homework and then be willing to discuss every word I wrote, seven or eight times each, with vendors who took issue with my writing. As you can well imagine, life’s too short and too full more interesting things to do. And you can figure out all those details by yourselves using my scripted scenario demo process discussed here with with much more here as applied to your particular business needs or areas of specific interest.

So instead of a feature/function/architecture/object model play by play — although I may yet do some version of this – I thought I’d share the list of emerging capability topics that seems to cover much of what I’ve been hearing, seeing, and thinking as I’ve gone through dozens of vendor briefings and demos (and with many more to come) and integrated their perspectives with my own. This is my working list of topics for which all core HRMS as well as the major (as to scope of offering as well as vendor viability) talent management vendors must have a clear strategy and plans for execution. To be viable in my eyes, vendors must have more than a powerpoint on these topics. Vendors must have real product already in current delivery and a lot more to come in 2011 on at least some of these topics as well as a clear strategy and plan for all of them to get high marks in my eyes. But please note that nothing here is a substitute for having true SaaS InFullBloom under the covers (if you’re trying to be a SaaS vendor) or most of the same preferred behaviors even if you’re licensed/on-premise. Good software is a pre-requisite no matter what else is going on, at least in my book.

Without further ado, here’s my list as of 3-28-2011:

1) Mobile — this is not just about taking existing transactions and reformatting them for mobile devises but rather about rethinking HRM, especially talent management (TM), workforce management (WFM), and strategic HRM analytics/decision-making, for a mobile world.
2) Social/Collaboration — which types of collaboration are being built into the platform and then unleashed in what order to what HRM, talent management, and workforce management processes with what intended business impacts? Here too, it’s not just about “socializing” existing transactions or processes but about rethinking HRM from a workforce collaboration perspective.
3) Global — what platform capabilities for what target markets and in what countries backed up by what go-to-market plans and “feet on the street,” to include VARs and other types of distribution relationships? I’m particulary impressed (or not!) by how much of the heavy lifting of regulatory compliance the vendor has taken on for the covered geographies, something which many to most of the talent management vendors have avoided entirely by saying that their customers are ultimately responsible and their configuration capabilities are superb.
4) Analytics — what types of actionable, embedded, and/or predictive analytics with what types of visualizations, e.g. network analyses is becoming quite prominent when organizations try to figure out what roles and individuals have the greatest business impact? And I should emphasize here that this is about getting real insight to decision-makers in a form they can use when they’re in the middle of making that decision rather than just having a wonderful report-writer or business intelligence solution with which they can figure out the questions and search for the answers.
5) Embedded intelligence of all kinds — what is the vendor really doing to deliver, “out of the box,” the type of content, guidance, exogenous data, “best” practice processes and business rules, without with self service is really distributed data entry? If Amazon can tell me what I’ve been reading, what others who read what I read are also reading, and the status of every open order almost before I pose these questions, why can’t my TM software tell me which people to hire?
6) Integrated HCM – this is the issue of core ERP/HRMS vendors building out TM like crazy while some TM vendors venture into core HRMS territory (absent payroll and benefits) and it’s on this list because I don’t believe that customers can afford to invest enough in talent management (and not just the technology) if their budgets/expertise/management attention/capacity for risk-taking/etc. is consumed with maintaining legacy core HRMS’ and trying to extend them with myriad add-ons nor can they easily replace those systems of record (SORs) unless there are excellent, lower cost, easily implemented and more comprehensive alternatives.
7) Talent management integration — where this is about having deep process-based and event-triggered integration (so not just UI or reporting integration) across all of talent management with a clear story on what the vendor includes in TM, what they don’t include in TM, what they really have of what they include, and what their plans are via product development, partnering, agnostic integration, for what you don’t have.
8) Integration tools – what capabilities are provided for the inevitable integration needed across disparate HRM enterprise software components, non-HRM but interconnected enterprise software components, various HRM outsourcing providers,etc., to include integration “in the cloud?”

What topics are on your list of general HRM software vendor product direction questions? I’d sure like to improve mine, so please share your thoughts.

Leading independent voice, analyst, end-user HRM business/delivery system strategy consultant, vendor HR technology/HRO business strategy/platform architecture/object model consultant, and thought leader across the HRM/HR technology/HR outsourcing industry now is the 23rd year of her solo practice, Bloom & Wallace. Known as the "Queen of HCM".